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please help with handle

I was trying to make a new WA handle to replace poorly made handle of Tanaka petty. But I'm struggling to create perfectly flat surfaces for glueing.

Here's a picture to illustrate my problem:
You can clearly see the gap between two parts. No matter how hard I've tried, from one or the the other side there are still small but visible gaps. At first I just used sandpaper wraped over some blank of wood. Later I tried flatting surface with DMT coarse plate… but still can't achive gapless surfaces between 2 pieces of wood.

Another unrelated question — how can you cut a really thin piece of wood to be used as spacer? I saw a lot of custom handles where wood was used instead of metal of horn. But I can't even image how to cut such thin and even pieces in home environment.

I have zero woodworking experience so any advices are highly appreciated

A vertical disc sander with a miter table is an easy way but only if you plan on continuing to make handles. Freehand is almost impossible. As far as cutting thin wood spacers, a bandsaw would work best.

Now you see how people end up buying a garage ful of power tools to do this

I flatten my joints by hand with a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper stuck to a 30cmx30cm piece of granite countertop. The granite stays stationary and I move the wood. Works better for me then the disc sander. I also mix some of the sanding dust with the epoxy, helps hide any tiny gaps that might remain.

…pretty persuasive photos I must admit (much better than anything I could achieve so far) but still there's a visible small hole on the last photo. Will it became invisible after glueing with dust+epoxy and reshaping?

And pretty cool shape of holes you drilled in those handles. Was it a series of smaller round holes that you combined later with some files or smth?

Actually that's just a little tearout on the edge of the ferrule, not a gap in the joining surface. It'll disappear when I resand the blank after glue up. But yea, if it was a gap, that's the kind of thing the sanding dust in the epoxy would hide for you.

As to the holes, yea, I use a forsner bit to make the oval mortices. It's something new I'm trying on this batch.

I flatten my joints by hand with a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper stuck to a 30cmx30cm piece of granite countertop. The granite stays stationary and I move the wood. Works better for me then the disc sander. I also mix some of the sanding dust with the epoxy, helps hide any tiny gaps that might remain.

+1. I use a disc sander but a truly flat surface plate with some adhesive backed sandpaper is a failsafe for me too when it comes to getting a true/level/flat surface. I'll often do a couple passes on that AFTER getting them close on belt/disc sander.

You can buy a granite surface plate which has been machined for accuracy from lots of woodcrafting suppliers or from some science/tech shops. You can also get by with a piece of leftover countertop slab.... or, even a porcelain tile from Home Depot etc.

The trick to the surface plate sanding is to be really conscious of the pressure you're putting on your pieces. If you push just from the side and your grip is high, it wants to tilt.
I clamp a C-clamp on to the blank and use that as a push handle....with my other hand, I push down from the top. Works like a charm.

Side question to the OP -- are you butt jointing your pieces together or are you joining them with a hidden dowel in the middle? A dowel will a stronger joint but will also make it easier to keep things aligned and clamped while the glue dries. That clamping pressure during the glue-up may help "close" any micro gaps you have too.

I do the same thing as Mikey, only with much more dirt and dust on the table... Before gluing, I usually pull the pieces over coarse sandpaper, turning them 1/4 every time to maintain the evenness. Mostly a mater of practice, I guess.